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How sport can become a catalyst for business sustainability
In this episode of the Sustainability Matters podcast, host Colin Tetreault explores how sustainable sports can act as a cultural beacon and inspire businesses to be courageous.
In this episode of Sustainability Matters, host Colin Tetreault, Managing Director, Climate Change and Sustainability Services, Ernst & Young LLP, explores the shifting environmental landscape of the sports industry. As North America enters an unprecedented era of mega events, a critical question emerges: Is the massive environmental footprint of sports a standard business liability, or can it become a powerful driver for operational resilience?
Colin is joined by Heather Watkins, co-founder of Bold Reuse, to break down the operational realities of tackling single-use waste at scale. The conversation confronts major logistical and economic challenges, mapping out the impact of rising supply-chain costs for single-use products and upcoming Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) legislation in the US.
The episode offers an inspiring look at how sports venues act as a "cultural beacon" for innovation. Heather explains how implementing reusable packaging systems not only cuts costs but also drives local jobs, community engagement and new corporate sponsorship revenue.
Key takeaways:
Sustainability has evolved from a "nice-to-have" consideration into a strategy for operational resilience and business future-proofing.
Sports venues act as ideal testing grounds for the circular economy, creating a ripple effect across other industries.
Upcoming EPR legislation could fundamentally change packaging economics, potentially making single-use products a financial risk.
For your convenience, full text transcript of this podcast is also available.
Heather Watkins
Sports knows that they are a cultural beacon of what's possible. And people look to them, you know, fans come every single year and they follow suit. So culturally, you know, I see a lot of innovation happening in sports.
It's not: is it possible? It's: do you have the courage to do it?
Colin Tetreault
Welcome to the EY Sustainability Matters podcast. If you look at the North American sports landscape right now, we are in the middle of an unprecedented era of mega events. The world's biggest football tournament is here, stadiums are packed and the eyes of millions of fans are fixed on our cities. But with this massive influx of people comes an equally massive question: How do we handle the environmental footprint of sports?
You know, historically, sustainability in sports was treated as a "nice-to-have" — a footnote in an annual corporate social responsibility or sustainability report. But today, that game has fundamentally changed. Sustainability has evolved into a core business driver. So, for the C-suite, this isn't just about ethics; it's actually about operational resilience and future-proofing your business.
Today, we are tackling one of the most visible and frustrating challenges: waste. To give you some context, large sporting events can generate, wait for it, up to several metric tons. That’s a lot of waste per game, the vast majority of which goes straight to landfills.
I’m Colin Tetreault and I’m an Exectutive Director in the EY US Climate Change and Sustainability practice. To talk about waste at large in sporting events further, I spoke with Heather Watkins, co-founder and Chief Revenue Officer of Bold Reuse, a company that’s tackling single-use waste at scale.
Watkins
Our mission is to end single-use waste, one of the biggest problems that humanity has set out to solve at this moment. And we do that by creating reusable packaging systems. We're operating in the United States today, but hopefully one day worldwide. And really, we run the entire system from washing dishes to procuring different product lines to doing the logistics, everything you need so that it is close to single use as possible, but in a circular system.
We were actually started in 2011. Our previous name was actually called GO Box PDX. And it was run by a woman with her bike. And she went food cart to food cart in downtown Portland. And consumers actually had subscriptions to this service. So, they would bring a token, they would get a takeout box, eat at their corporate campus downtown in Portland and then the service would pick it up from their corporate campus, wash it, return it back to the food cart. So that operated for quite a while.
And then the pandemic happened and nobody wanted to do anything with reusable that was not from a single-use package. And the business kind of went dark. And in 2021, Starbucks actually inbounded and said, hey, you're one of the only people in the country that's doing reusables. We are really invested and want to do reusables. Will you run our system in Seattle?
My business partner Jocelyn, she picked back up and reopened and started doing a reuseable packaging system for Starbucks.
And I saw what she was doing around waste reduction. And she had huge B2B clients which was my background. And I saw potential. So, I quit my job, I joined her and then we have shifted completely into B2B and into sports. We changed our name to Bold Reuse. And the rest is history. Really, sports has taken off quite a bit.
Moda Center, the Trail Blazers was our first client that was in sports and no one else in the country even wanted to touch this thing called reusables in an arena setting because it seemed too scary and too big. But they wanted to do zero waste. They wanted to try something and be a trailblazer, if you will, within the industry. And reached out to us on LinkedIn and then we replicated basically what we had done for Starbucks for the Trail Blazers. And that started the movement.
So now, we have over 20 professional sports teams on our docket. People thought before again that it wasn't possible until we proved that it was possible. Because flipping into 20,000 people, all of their products within a day, it seems really monumental and hard. But we proved that it was possible.
Tetreault
It really is a phenomenal growth story. But Heather, what really piqued my interest is what is it specifically about live sporting events that makes them such a unique testing ground for sustainability? Why is this environment the ideal launchpad for a circular economy?
Watkins
Really, sports knows that they are a cultural beacon of what's possible and people look to them. You know, fans come every single year, and they see what sports does and the different nonprofits that they invest in and the different missions that they invest in. And they follow suit. So culturally, you know, I see a lot of innovation happening in sports, so it's amazing that we're attached to it. But frankly, they're really out in front of like, how do we lead this movement? How do we do something new and exciting that other people aren't doing?
But now it makes business sense. There are sponsorship opportunities that are coming about that weren't possible before. And they see that they can make money off of this. So, it's not just an expense anymore to their bottom line, that it actually can drive local jobs, community development, community engagement for their sponsors and more revenue for them. So, it's actually worked out quite well for us from a go-to-market perspective. So, typically we go to a new region, we partner with a sports team or two.
And now we're at festivals and events all across the country. So, it's like they started, and then we start seeing this ripple effect of schools and corporate campuses and festivals and events. But it usually just starts with sports, creating that beacon of what is possible and then everybody following suit.
Tetreault
You know, it certainly does create a terrific ripple effect, but I can only imagine, Heather, that the logistics behind the scenes must be intense. What is it, you know, these specific challenges of waste reduction during these huge, massive participatory sporting events? Why have things like recycling and composting fallen short?
Watkins
When you see a football game or any sports game and you just look at the trash left behind in a parking lot, it's kind of heartbreaking. We all see the waste that's created from just enjoying our day and enjoying our lives. And it doesn't feel great to throw away that much material. And it doesn't also feel great to see like overflowing waste bins all over different venues and stadiums either. Waste is definitely a problem to be solved. We thought recycling would solve that. You know, some of the most recent stats in are between only 5% to 6% of our products are actually getting recycled in the United States. So obviously, the systems aren't working like we had thought they were.
I had assumed compostables was doing a lot of the legwork. What's really depressing is that compostables actually have a higher carbon footprint than single-use plastic on a PET level. Aluminum, again, like we thought, okay, it's getting recycled. To create and melt aluminum and reproduce that is an enormous amount of energy and water. So, it's actually less sustainable than, again, single-use plastic. So, when I think about the problem of we can't just keep creating more and more waste, the amount of plastic in the world is becoming heavier and heavier every year. It's just getting landfilled. And the impact on our systems is just really depressing. So, it's like there's got to be a different way. When you look at waste hierarchy, it's reduce, then reuse, then recycle. So, I knew that there conceptually has got to be a way that we can do this in a big enough scale, that we can actually turn the tides and reduce our dependency on plastics. So, I'd say like, I knew there was a problem to solve, we all see it.
And then again, practice, like we've now done, this hundreds or thousands of times in the biggest environments in the world. So, for me, it's not, is it possible? It's do you have the courage to do it? And are you going to be bold enough to do it? And that's what I'm most excited about, is showing to people that it's not only the right thing to do, it's the best thing to do. It creates, you know, local jobs and impacts. It creates revenue for people's teams. And it's possible; you just have to have, you know, the courage to do it.
Tetreault
Courage is interesting, you know, when you say that, Heather. So, when you're looking at these venues from afar, or maybe you're attending these events, there's got to be signals that indicate to you and your team that an organization, a sports body, maybe a massive gathering is ready for that change, sometimes disruptive. What are those?
Watkins
I think that one of them is just being a leader within their community or within innovation itself. When people say that that's a stated goal of their organization, that they try to be a thought leader within their community and their industry, that's a great target for us. So, we are always looking for people like that. But then when I walk into a building and they've actually thought through, I mean, for me in waste, like this is what I look at all the time. I'm looking at trash rooms and in garbage cans.
Some venues have one landfill. They don't recycle. They don't compost. They're ramshackle. There's no signage. Like you can tell the care of what that organization thinks about waste and, frankly, experience too for their fans. When you see someone that is organized, they have signage put together or they have a four-top bin with pictures of what should go in each bin; everything is clean; nothing is overflowing; everything is like beautifully put together and thought through, I know that that's an organization that really thinks about the experience, the fan experience, their employee experience, their operational experience and wants to invest in in something like what we're doing. So, those typically are the contenders for who are great candidates for our type of operations.
And obviously, there are some old buildings where they're just, they're trying to survive every day because it's a 120-year-old building and they're doing their best. But I can also tell that too, you know, it doesn't need to be about the age of the building. It's really about how they treat their employees, how they operationally show up for their fans. That makes them kind of a good candidate for moving into something like reuse.
Tetreault
You know, Heather, we talked about this just a little bit ago, that this is not just a feel-good initiative. There is legitimate, undeniable business value tied to this. So, click into, help us understand a little bit more that when you're thinking about this and your clients and these organizations in a market that's plagued by things like volatility and supply chain, you got increasing overhead costs. That sure, yes, this does have an environmental benefit, but there's actually more. There's a financial and a de-risking orientation. Is that right?
Watkins
You know, Reuse, especially in the early days, has been more of a premium option as we're starting to get to scale. I think that that is no longer the case in a lot of different scenarios, especially in environments where there is policy or regulation going online. Single use is getting to be quite expensive and it does make a really good business case. So, a few examples.
We're seeing invoices for single-use items be increased by 20% to 30%. On top of all the implications from the gas fees being so expensive and moving products, I'm getting updates nearly monthly from manufacturers saying, hey, we're increasing prices by 10% to 20%.
Then you add on top of that hauling; hauling fees are being increased by 10% to 20%. So actually, when you move into reuse, you're de-risking, that you don't have to import products. You're not getting stuck at ports where you're not even being able to get products. You have a flat rate. It's not increasing because our prices are not, you know, it's locally washed. And if anything, our costs are going down. So, people really like it from a business side because they're de-risking, achieving their sustainability goals and a lot of places hopefully saving money. And now there's this revenue opportunity. So, we actually just closed a project with a very large hotel chain here in the Pacific Northwest. And they have a third-party sponsor paying for everything, for the entire project. And again, now instead of it used to be a cost driver for the organization, now it's a revenue producer for them, a profit center.
Same for the Portland Timbers, which is our MLS team. They had a construction company, Skanska, actually underwrite the entire project because they saw the benefit of having their brand in the hands of every fan and facilitating this really cool community experience locally. So, there's a lot of value being created for a new revenue being able to be brought into these stadiums on top of the savings that they're seeing from a cost perspective.
EPR legislation, that's coming down the docket. Oregon, where I live today in Portland, Oregon, we have the EPR legislation live. They are starting to collect fees.
So, from a business side, things have changed dramatically just in the last 12 months, where reuse is actually now a lot cheaper than materials that you can get on the market. And especially, if you're coming from something like aluminum cups, it is half of the price of aluminum cups, and either on par or even cheaper than compostables. EPR is driving where it makes a lot more business sense.
Tetreault
Heather mentioned an acronym that everyone needs to pay attention to. Are you ready? Three letters. EPR, or let's break it down, Extended Producer Responsibility. For our listeners who might not be familiar, EPR laws essentially mandate that the company's manufacturing or importing packaging must take financial and operational responsibility for the entire life cycle of those products. That's right. Including their disposal. This regulatory wave is totally changing the economics of things like corporate packaging strategies, rendering single-use items increasingly cost prohibitive and risky. So, I asked Heather to unpack this further for our listeners.
Watkins
EPR is really exciting.
This is something that's been active in Europe. So, in packaging sense, it's hey, you can't just import millions of dollars of trash that then we have to clean up on our city streets and then the city and the taxpayers have to pay for it. The producers of that packaging should be paying for the infrastructure that's needed to properly manage those materials. So, I'm pumped about this. Some people, like in Tennessee, they've got something that they're trying to get through the legislature. That's the Waste to Jobs Act. So, it's not about just, hey, we're going to tax people up the wazoo or make it difficult to operate within our state. It's, hey, we're creating jobs, we're reducing waste, and it's really investing in our local economy. So, I love that about EPR. And again, it's leveling the playing field. Single use now will be at the cost it should be for having to manage that waste and actually either properly recycle it, properly landfill it, or properly compost it. So, Oregon is the first state in the country to have passed EPR and to have it live.
We've been now live for almost a year. They also have a fund. It'll be up to US$15 million every year that will be reinvested into the reuse systems within the state of Oregon. All of that coming from increasing the cost of single use by, you know, 5% to 30%. And it’s pennies on each of these units that will be reinvested into local communities. California is the biggest. I mean, this is a massive change starting in January of next year. There are specific goals too for these manufacturers and producers that require them to reduce the amount of plastic going to the state by 25%. So, if you think that you're not being impacted, like, no, you are definitely being impacted.
They're required to encourage reduction in plastics being manufactured and imported into the state. And they also have a goal of 10% moved into reusables. So, you'll see a lot more refillable reusable options within your grocery store, soda manufacturers and people that are making beverages. There'll be a lot more reusable options in the market. And then all these venues you'll be at, they will have incentives and also regulation to get them more into reusables. If you think it's not coming for you, that is very inaccurate. And it's actually really exciting. I mean, we're investing potentially hundreds of millions of dollars every single year into local communities to help with waste reduction, creating circular economies, and keeping our communities a lot cleaner. So, I'm so jazzed about it, about the economics of what it's going to do for all these different local municipalities and what, you know, our vision is to create healthier communities by reducing waste and like EPR is exactly what that is doing.
Tetreault
All right, well, looking at the immediate landscape, we've got this giant, massive, crazy global football tournament sweeping across North America, putting our cities absolutely under the spotlight. How are you and Bold Reuse actually getting involved in these events?
Watkins
Well, we are in the thick of it. It is enormous. And what I would say is the city has been critical in getting all the people to sit at the same table. So, we will be supporting a few of the fan fests put on by the host committee, which is amazing.
But it is in tandem and in partnership with the city, and the city will be subsidizing a small portion of it. But they're also bringing to the table, hey, we're going to bring all these additional resources like recycling, like on-site waste support, like logistics providers like ourselves. So, the city is adding a ton of value to this organization. Because it's dispersed across the entire North America, every city is kind of on their own for their plan.
These cities are actually having a huge seat at the table to help these organizing committees get the plan together around waste and how they're going to move materials and even support from a packaging perspective, this massive event that will be all over the city. So, I say big props to cities and states to really help facilitate that. Same in Kansas City, a lot of different events that we're supporting and they're actually subsidizing all the festivals and events in the region over the summer.
So, I think that's a critical component to some of these mega events coming to our cities and states, especially the Olympics is coming up. Olympics is a little bit easier because it's one city, it's one region, and the Olympics is kind of managing everything for them instead of having so many different cities at the same table. So, it's actually easier to implement a circular system.
I really commend the Olympic Planning Committee. They've got reuse goals stated and they're requiring that the cups be reusable at all the different venues and they're requiring compostables and they're requiring recyclables. So, I think what they've done, again, they've locked arms and like, if you want to participate and be in this plan for the city, like you've got, these are the things you need to do. I think what's nice is Olympics has been able to do this and have been doing it for years. Now they've created and documented their plans. They launched them and they've done the hard work of getting the cities and vendors to say, okay, we're in. And again, I commend them on being able to do it early so that we're not up in the run-up two days before launch saying, wait, we should have done Reuse.
Tetreault
Okay, let's talk turkey. We're moving from pilot to full scale. Help me understand what are those triggers? What's that value growth? What's that revenue driver opportunity here when you go from small scale to full-on implementation?
Watkins
Yeah, I'd also state grants are a huge part of this. EPR in California, they have US$500 million a year that will be stood up to go to waste reduction efforts that will underwrite a lot of this transition into a circular economy.
So, I think that there's, it's not just selling sponsorships if you're a corporate campus or if you’re a music venue. And you're like, listen, I can't do , now there's grant money and funding available to make this transition happen, which is really exciting. And it's going to make things possible, especially in schools that weren't possible before. I also want to flag too though that people are used to spending a lot of money. A single-use compostable, and I'm saying this in air quotes, takeout box for some is between 50 and 70 cents. So, when you move into a reuse system and it's 15 to 20 cents for you to wash, you're saving a lot of money. So, where it becomes a little trickier is when you're replacing a 4-cent cup into a reuse system. So again, that EPR fee is actually helping us get to an equilibrium. But for a lot of the materials out there, moving into reusables actually saves a ton of money, and especially in a corporate campus environment.
Tetreault
As we wrap up, Heather and I, we spoke a little bit about what businesses, stakeholders, and everyday fans listening to this podcast should be thinking about right now. How can they start driving this transformation from where they sit?
Watkins
One, I would encourage them to write, make a survey or write a note to their local sports team. They really take fan feedback seriously. And if they get a few notes of like, why are you guys behind the times here and not doing reusables and just throwing all this stuff to landfill, they listen. So, one, I would say write to your local school, your local sports organization and say, what are you guys doing about reducing waste? And then secondly, look at your own office.
Do you even have recycling? Do you have a recycle bin? Do you have signage that appropriately says what goes in recycling versus landfill? Those are super easy things you can do today that will help with your diversion and waste reduction overall. And then if you're down to do something a little bit crazy, but really exciting and very monumental, encourage and ask for, can we just get some mugs in this place? And if you can't wash it on site, call someone like us. And we can help you figure it out. We work with some of the biggest companies in the world thinking about how we move their kitchens from single use and into reusables. And it's possible. Again, you just have to have the courage to do it.
Tetreault
Yeah, I think you gave us the note there, Heather. You just have to have the courage to do it. That's the perfect sentence and note to end on. Thank you, Heather, for sharing those insights today, showing us, inspiring us that a zero-waste future in sports isn't just a dream, but it's actively playing out on the field right now.
And thank you to the audience for listening to Sustainability Matters. If you enjoyed this episode, please check out previous episodes on ey.com or wherever you get your episodes and podcasts from. We'd love to hear from you and we'd love you to subscribe, provide ratings, reviews, and comments are always very welcome. Visit ey.com where you will find a wide range of related and interesting articles to help put these bigger topics in a context of your business priorities. And we look forward to welcoming you on the next episode of Sustainability Matters.
